A New Life
by CheesetothePower
Summary: -AU- Sally dies when Percy is young, and blood relatives are found in Surrey. And so Percy ends up in the custody of the Dursleys.
1. Chapter 1

"English"

"_Ancient Greek_"

* * *

**New York, New York, September 3, 1985**

Sometimes there is no warning when death will strike. Sally Jackson learned that the hard way walking her five year old son Perseus "Percy" Jackson to his first day of kindergarten. It was only her quick thinking that saved her child from the drunk driver barreling down the road, shoving him several feet forward as he jumped the curb and struck her.

The last words from her mouth before Clotho cut her string was "Percy, whatever you choose, I support yo…"

When the ambulance arrived on the scene with the police, only minutes later, there was nothing they could do for the poor young woman tragically taken in the prime of her life. They could only take her crying, confused child and check to see if she had family to place him with.

* * *

**Little Winging, Surrey, England, September 6, 1985**

Early in an ordinary house on an ordinary road on Suburban Britain, the phone rang. "Put that down before you break that!" she snapped at a dark haired child trying to put a carton of eggs into the fridge while pocking up the phone.

"Hello, Dursley household, Petunia speaking, how may I help you?" she said sweetly into the microphone.

"Hello Mrs. Dursley, I'm with Family and Social Services in New York, and I'm calling about your half-sister."

"I'm sorry, but I don't have a half-sister, now if you would let me go…"

"Our records indicate otherwise and imply that she may have been the product of an extramarital affair."

"Why does that concern me?"

"Well, she passed in a car accident a few days ago, leaving a child around your son's age. You are currently the only known relatives we could find, and were wondering if you are willing to take custody of him."

"I'm sorry, but I am already taking care of my other sister's son. I can't."

"Okay. He'll be going into foster care then. Can I give you my number in case you change your mind?" the social worker asked.

"Of course," Petunia replied, ready to be done with this nonsense, and wrote down the information he told him.

"Who was that, Pet?" she heard Vernon ask as she hung up the phone.

"Americans. They're trying to pass another brat onto us; claiming I have a sister I didn't know about!"

"Rude buggers, aren't they? Expecting us to feed and house him when we already have two to care for."

"Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, can I have some eggs and sausage too?" Harry interrupted.

"Eat your toast, you ungrateful little git, and don't interrupt," Vernon snapped. "Now what was I saying? They expect us to take him in and care for this child like our own? And how do they expect him to get him here? For us to buy him a ticket at our own expense? Crazy, the all of then." The phone rang again, bringing him out of his rant. Seeing his wife get up, he said "No Petunia, I'll get him this time."

"Dursley residence…" he managed to get out before being interrupted.

"You will take in the boy," a firm voice said.

"Who is this? What is the meaning of this?" Vernon asked, not expecting someone to be so demanding to him without context.

"You and your wife will take in the boy, and treat him as your own. He is being put on a boat today, which will arrive in Bristol next Wednesday, the eleventh, at noon. You will be there to pick him up, or there will be consequences for both you and your wife, Vernon Dursley. I better bot have to call you again."

"Who are you? How did you get this number? How do you know my name?" Vernon puffed into the microphone as the line went dead.

"Vernon?" Petunia asked him.

"What was the number you wrote down? We're taking the boy."

* * *

**Bristol, England, September 11, 1985 **

Percy was anxious, his ADHD not helping. He had been cooped up in a the cabin in the freighter for the better part of the week. He wasn't aloud to wander the ship alone, crew had to accompany him out. One crewmember, who called himself Triton, would occasionally bring him out to the deck to look at dolphins.

"You ready?" Triton popped his head inside the cabin. "We're pulling in the harbor, and we'll be unloading soon. Don't you want to meet your Aunt and Uncle?"

Percy looked up at the man. "I miss my mommy. You think I'll ever see her again?"

Triton looked at the small child sadly. "I don't know Percy. I don't know."

* * *

"What is taking them so long?" Vernon impatiently asked Petunia.

"They have to unload a bit before they can start bringing passengers in, Vernon," Petunia responded.

"Well they better hurry. I had to take the day off from work."

Petunia looked up and saw a man with a young, dark-haired child walk onto the ramp. "I think he's here."

Approaching them, the young man asked: "Petunia and Vernon Durseley?"

"Yes," they both state. "I hope he wasn't too much trouble," Petunia says.

"He was a dream. One of the best crossings I've ever experienced," the young man states.

"We better be getting home, we'll need to be getting the other children from nursery care." Petunia grabs Percy's wrist and drags him towards the car.

* * *

"_You think he'll be all right?_" Poseidon asked his son, choosing their native Archaic Greek.

"_I don't know. These people are not nice people, he'll have a challenge. And there's the British wizards. The Europeans wizards are always mistaken demigods for their own,_" Triton responded.

"_He was doomed from the moment he was born,_" Poseidon sighed. "_All we can do now is watch. Anymore and the others may notice._"_  
_

"_He is just a child though."_

_"And he is strong. He'll be safe in Britain, he'll be hidden. All we can do is watch, and hope he'll be ready when fate catches up with him."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Little Whinging, Surrey, England, September 11, 1985**

Percy looked out the window impatiently as the car came to a stop after two hours of driving. As far as he was concerned, that was way to long to be in a car. The woman – Aunt Petunia Dursley as he had been instructed to call her – got out of the car, and walked up to the building the vehicle had stopped in front of. Within moments she reappeared with two young boys, about Percy's age.

One was chubby and watery eyed, his cheeks red. Petunia held him gently by the hand, as if he was made of glass. The other child she held violently by the wrist. Like Percy, he had dark hair and green eyes. He wore glasses though, and was skinny, looking almost emancipated compared to the chubby boy.

"Dudley, Harry, this is your cousin, Percy," Petunia said to them. "He's going to be staying with us for a while." When did they get in the car? He must have zoned out.

"He and Harry are going to be moving into the second bedroom, Dudley" the big man, Vernon, said, "So you're going to half to move your spare toys under the stairs."

"Why?" the chubby one, or Dudley, whined, "It's mine, and Harry has under the stairs. Why can't I keep it?"

"Because they're getting too big fir under the stairs, and you could stand to loose some of that clutter!" Vernon snapped.

"But MUMMY!"

"Listen to your father," Petunia's voice started to break. Dudley started to kick her seat, and Petunia bit her tongue and ignored it.

Percy looked at the other young boy, Harry, and whispered to him, "Are they always like this?"

Harry just looked at him and whispered back: "Yes."

* * *

**4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England, June 23, 1991**

A blond man, maybe about eighteen, ran through a park or garden, sword in hand. Soon he came upon an apple tree, with a huge snake around the base. "_Maia!"_ he whispered, and wings sprouted sprung from his shoes. Then Percy woke up.

It was once again Dudley's birthday. The obese boy had made the house shake, getting up at the crack of dawn and literally running down to the kitchen to see what he had gotten for his birthday. When Dudley was up, the whole house was up, and it was up to him and Harry to help Petunia get breakfast ready.

The past six years had not been great ones, as far as Percy was concerned. When his mother had died in that horrible accident, he had been taken and shipped half a world away to live with relatives he didn't even know.

From the day they had picked him up at Bristol, they had done nothing but provided only the most basic amenities, with labor and abuse as his payment. He had been put in a small room to share with one of his cousins, Harry, as the other one, Dudley, kicked and screamed complaining that the space was his to store what was easily identifiable even at a glance as junk. As he and Harry grew, the clothing they received were the worn fabric that Dudley outgrew. They were given the same food at the table as everyone else, but it was made clear that no extra money besides the bare minimum would be spent to feed both him and Harry.

Now, the conditions in and off themselves weren't what bothered Percy. When his mother was alive, she had been young and alone with a dead-end job in one of the most expensive cities in North America. Their apartment had been cramped, their clothing bought second hand, and the food on the table chosen as much for quantity as for quality. It was the unfairness of it all: the Dusleys lived like the upper middle class people they were while he and Harry were essentially servants.

Walking into the kitchen, Percy looked up to see Dudley look at his pile of presents, feeling slightly disappointed. The last time he had received a birthday present from any adult in his life was the one before his mother had been taken. He turned on the stove and took out the frying pan to make the bacon. Out of the corner of his eye, he see's Harry.

"I'll start the coffee," the other dark-haired boy said, "while you check the mail. The pan needs to heat up anyways."

Percy just nodded, having no interest in expanding the energy to speak. Picking up the pile of papers, mostly magazines and other junk mail, two envelopes caught his attention:

_Perseus Jackson_

_Smallest Bedroom_

_4 Privet Drive,_

_Surrey, England_

and

_Harry Potter_

_Smallest Bedroom_

_4 Privet Drive,_

_Surrey, England_

That intrigued him. Never before had he or Harry received mail of any kind. Some instinct told him that it would not be a goof idea to let Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to see the letters though, and held a figure between them and the rest of the mail in his right hand. Walking past the crawlspace under the stairs, he through the two letters in there, moved the rest of the mail to his left hand, and closed the slightly ajar door in one fluid motion.

Walking into the kitchen, Vernon spotted the pile of papers in Percy's palms. "What came in the mail today, boy?" the man asked.

"Nothing interesting," Percy replied, "just some magazines and other junk." He did not know what was awaiting him.

* * *

**4 Privet Drive, Later that Day**

As Vernon and Petunia were just getting ready to go out the door to take Dudley and his friend, Piers Polkiss, to the zoo, the phone rang.

"Hello," Petunia stated, "yes…umhum…of course, those things happen, don't worry about it," and she hung up the phone. Turning to Vernon, she sneered, "Mrs. Figg canceled, she tripped over one of those damn cats of hers and broke her leg. Petty excuse if you ask me. Either way, we have nothing to do with Percy and Harry now but take them with us."

"But mummy," Dudley started to cry, "I don't want them to ruin my birthday."

"Don't worry, Dudykins," Petunia comforted, "We'll make them be quiet, and how about we get you a sunday at the zoo too?"

Dudley's tears dried up, and Percy just rolled his eyes.


End file.
